Strange clash of civilisations
Pink chaddis versus sarees is a strange take on the clash of civilisations.
Pink chaddis versus sarees is a strange take on the clash of civilisations. Samuel Huntington���s now famed treatise that the faultlines between cultural and religious identities will be the main source of conflict has been turned, in a way, inside out. Trying to counter the excesses of the Sri Ram Sene with panty, social behaviour actually puts the protagonists of women���s rights literally on the same page ��� if at the opposite end ��� of a cultural divide. In normal circumstances, the Sri Ram Sene and the newly formed Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women on Facebook would scarcely have got much attention from sane people. With Valentines Day and pink hearts in the air, however, anything is possible. But the choice of two common items of clothing as unlikely ��� and unnecessary ��� symbols of protest, bears some thought. Why should panties and sarees be posited as cultural opposites? Colour notwithstanding, are they not mutually compatible?
Sadly, just as pubs have suddenly been elevated to temples of modernity in India by the shenanigans of the Sri Ram Sene, it looks like sarees will be consigned to the garbage heap of neo-feminist history by virtue of its espousal by Pramod Muthalik as a counter to the pink ���chaddis��� being collected as a Valentine���s Day present for him. Even if a vast majority of women in India would surely not see either item as markers of clashing cultures or world views, the saree risks being typecast as symbol of ���backward��� Indianness. Of course, if the pink panty becomes a symbol of protest against anti-women actions by persons of all political, ideological and cultural colourings, there is hope yet. Valentine���s Day, after all, is but one excuse to bear down on freedom of choice. Throughout the year and across the world, incursions against women are rife and this colourful symbol of liberation ��� and indeed, love ��� could be the panty-dote to regressive tendencies. It may even give a fillip to the hosiery industry. But please Mr Muthalik and the Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women, keep the saree out of this clash of your civilisations!
Sadly, just as pubs have suddenly been elevated to temples of modernity in India by the shenanigans of the Sri Ram Sene, it looks like sarees will be consigned to the garbage heap of neo-feminist history by virtue of its espousal by Pramod Muthalik as a counter to the pink ���chaddis��� being collected as a Valentine���s Day present for him. Even if a vast majority of women in India would surely not see either item as markers of clashing cultures or world views, the saree risks being typecast as symbol of ���backward��� Indianness. Of course, if the pink panty becomes a symbol of protest against anti-women actions by persons of all political, ideological and cultural colourings, there is hope yet. Valentine���s Day, after all, is but one excuse to bear down on freedom of choice. Throughout the year and across the world, incursions against women are rife and this colourful symbol of liberation ��� and indeed, love ��� could be the panty-dote to regressive tendencies. It may even give a fillip to the hosiery industry. But please Mr Muthalik and the Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women, keep the saree out of this clash of your civilisations!
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